Friday, July 31, 2015

July ended on a few positive
notes this week – from Americans rallying behind wild animals to progressions
in the college admittance system. Here are some stories that I found most
interesting:

Slowly Ditching the SAT – The trend for colleges to become “test-optional”
picked up steam on Monday, as George Washington University decided
to follow suit – making it the biggest school yet to join. Reasoning behind
the transition lies in that most high scores on the SAT nowadays are a direct
result of affluent means of preparation, and the decision is being made to
close the gap for underprivileged students. Good job, America!

All About That Big Cat – Lions may be kings of the jungle, but this week they
were the king of trending topics. From public outcry over an American dentist killing
one of the most beloved lions in Hwange National Park, to the appearance of
a mysterious lion in typically lion-free Milwaukee, it seems that America knows
to respect the big cat. News doesn’t seem to be slowing down, especially as the
Zimbabwe Minister of Wildlife seeks extradition for that crazy dentist. Even
still – who knew lions could tweet?

#plagiarized – Twitter
has always been a breeding ground for outright plagiarism, specifically with
jokes! But
the folks at Twitter have had enough and are deleting stolen tweets. So if
your draft folder is filled to the brim with comedy gold, you may want to run a
check first.

Google+ Was Still a Thing? – Apparently, Google+ has still been around the past few
years, because the team at Google sheepishly pulled
it as a rival to Facebook this week. As of now, all new Google users won’t
be required to set up a profile on the platform. A wise man once said,
“you’ve got to know when to fold ‘em.”

Windows 10 –
This week, Microsoft
unveiled another version of its operating system in an attempt to battle
Apple. And although many are happy with the changes (over 14 million people
have already installed it on their PCs), the system is facing criticism for its
privacy settings. Be careful what you tell your computer!

Friday, July 24, 2015

Summer’s in full swing, and
social media news continues to stay hot. Here is round-up of stories that I
found most interesting this week:

YouTube On the Rise – YouTube’s
first report
on branded content yielded some interesting info, including the fact
that monthly views of branded content are up 55 percent since last year.
In addition, Google announced that YouTube
is now bigger than any individual U.S. cable network for the key
demographic of 18-49 year olds.

It’s All Political – The
Donald continues to make headlines – and stir up trouble for Republicans –
with his brash
comments, including his criticism of Arizona Senator John McCain. And
in response to Mr. Trump giving out his personal cell phone number, South
Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham made a YouTube video in which he destroyed
his cell phone.

Power of Apology – Mitsubishi
made a long-awaited
apology to survivors of its POW camp, the first private company to do
so – prompting questions of if corporations will follow suit.

Battle of the Stars –
Several celebrities made headlines by duking it out on social media this
week. Popular battles included Nicki
Minaj vs. Taylor Swift on Twitter – which was joined by a number of
other celebrities – and Scottie
Pippen vs. Shaq on Instagram.

Monday, July 20, 2015

LCWA’s home
products team recently helped Trex host
a successful social media sweepstakes on Pinterest. Following changes
to Pinterest’s sweepstakes rules, we had to get creative on how we could
encourage people to enter the contest without requiring them to pin specific
content, so we decided to ask entrants to create a Pinterest board that showed
off their dream outdoor living space. Entrants also were encouraged to pin an
image from the Trex #NextDecks Sweepstakes Pinterest board and received an
extra entry for doing so.

The sweepstakes ran for four weeks and generated more than
1,400 entries. Upon completion, five winners were randomly selected to win a
piece of Trex Outdoor Furniture to
spruce up their outdoor living space. Trex saw its number of Pinterest
followers greatly increase and traffic to their website was significantly
boosted as a result of the sweepstakes.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

For the last few weeks LCWA’s healthcare PR team has been
introducing stakeholder media to the new leader of the AccreditationAssociation of Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), Dr. Stephen Martin, Jr.,
M.P.H. Media tactics we are deploying for the announcement of Dr.
Martin’s new position include a press release, which received coverage in Modern Healthcare, aggressive media outreach and introductory letters to editors
containing the offer of interviews with the new CEO. As the leader of AAAHC,
which provides accreditation to more than 6,000 facilities, Dr. Martin can
serve as an authoritative voice on the future of health care quality
improvement initiatives and LCWA is working to position him as a go-to source
for trade media.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Is
social media good or bad for us? Is it good for society? Is it good for the
economy?

Social
Media Today tackled these questions this week with a fresh, thoughtful list
of pros (“unprecedented access to information”) and cons (“serious repercussions
on productivity.”) It’s definitely worth a read.

Speaking
of good and bad, Facebook this week unveiled smart new ways to make your news
feed better by allowing you to select which friends and pages you would like to see at the
top of your feed. Watch this short video to learn how to prioritize
stories, and make sure you don’t miss posts from your best friends and favorite
pages.

In
more Facebook news, the
social network’s 1.4 billion active users may need to strain to see a subtle
new design change. But in the battle for gender equality, Facebook’s

new Friends
icon makes
a big statement. While the previous look had a more diminutive woman standing
behind her man, look closely, the new Friends icon now shows the woman in front
of the man, and the two silhouettes are of equal size.

Quiz:
Name the classic play that opens with “If music be the food of live, play on. (Hint:
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.) Clearly
the Bard had a knack for catchy ledes, and writers today can still learn a
thing or two about capturing reader interest from the very start. Thanks PR
Daily for recognizing the power of the classics and posting 14 of Shakespeare’s
most captivating openers.

Borrowing
again from Shakespeare, I leave you with the final line in his play Julius Caesar, “And Let’s Away, to Part the
Glories of This Happy Day.” Have a great weekend everyone!

Monday, July 6, 2015

As part of our product roll out for the first line of Electrolux branded countertop kitchen appliances in North America, LCWA and Electrolux staff met with more than 50 food journalists at the Food Fete media event in New York. The sleek and distinctive appliances of the Electrolux Masterpiece Collection – which feature a proprietary tilted design – were a hit with the media, who came in waves to see demos.

Prior to the event, our Chicago PR team arranged desk side meetings with editors at target publications to demonstrate the exciting products in person. The early results are promising – be on the lookout for the Electrolux Masterpiece Collection in media nationwide when sales begin this fall.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

It was a short week, but there was certainly no
shortage of interesting stories around the web. Below are my favorite
finds for the week.

JL – Chevy released a media alert announcing the launch of their 2016
Cruze written entirely in the language of emojis. While they later distributed a
more traditional release, the innovative announcement received mixed
reactions.

He’s Fired – Donald Trump found himself of the receiving end
of his trademark phrase this past week when both NBC and Macy’s severed ties with him
after he made racially insensitive remarks. The Donald’s response? Throwing out
more insults, of course.